By ground or air, patrols monitor trick-or-treaters

On this Halloween, law enforcement hit the streets and the air to make sure trick-or-treaters were safe.

"We're looking for pedestrian traffic. The safety for those people," said KPD Officer Shawn Shreve, as he patrolled the streets of East Knoxville Wednesday. He said KPD was treating Wednesday like a holiday, with patrols focusing on two things: pedestrians and an increase in cars on the road.

"Most of the time you have kids running away from their parents. They start following some friends who thought are in their party," Officer Shreve added.

That can be the same for many East Tennessee law enforcement units. However the Sevier County Sheriff's Office added one more vehicle to their disposal this year-- a helicopter.

"Helping monitor traffic... and serving the ground units," pilot James Hickman said as he stood next to the newly minted helicopter the SCSO has access to.

"The presence of us being on patrol is better than 30 ground units... the great benefit of air patrol is air support, our response time is seconds rather than minutes," Hickman added.

Deputies said this is the first holiday they've used their new helicopter for patrols. They will consider using it on other holidays as well.